May 10, 2015 by ERICA MARCUS / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it After a season in the gastronomic sun, the food at Jones Beach is back to business as usual. Last year's SmorgasBar -- the popular waterside outpost of Smorgasburg, Brooklyn's open-air weekend food market -- is not returning: No more wood-fired pizza, fresh-shucked oysters, artisanal nachos or local craft beer. According to Eric Demby, a Smorgasburg co-founder, SmorgasBar was a pilot program for a possible contract for all the Jones Beach food and beverage concessions. But, he said, "taking that on was beyond our capacity." Randy Simons, a spokesman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, said part of the Jones Beach revitalization effort "will focus on the expansion of food and beverage as a focal point in the transformation of the park." The SmorgasBar tent and seating area at the Central Mall provided an alternative to the park's adjacent main food concession pavilion. For 2015, that pavilion will be run by the same concessionaire as last year: J & B Restaurant Partners, which operates Friendly's franchises in the New York area. That company, however, is in the final year of its contract at Jones Beach, and it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. This summer, the parks office will begin soliciting proposals from food-service companies for the future. Still, J & B will expand its Jones Beach menu this year. In addition to hot dogs, hamburgers and fish and chips, it will include such new items as lobster rolls ($12.75), fish tacos ($11.50), build-your-own burritos ($8), gyros ($9) and Cuban sandwiches ($10.50). Food service at the Central Mall (near Field 4) is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hours will extend -- and concessions will open at the other fields -- by June 27.

A new Smorgasburg food court and beer garden is now open at the main entrance to Jones Beach on Long Island. El Gato Nacho, Fleisher's, Handsome Hank's Fish Hut, Home Frite, Rubirosa, and Summers serve fresh and affordable meals and beach snacks, alongside our shipping-container bar featuring Long Island breweries such as Greenport Harbor and Southampton Publick House, as well as Kelvin Slush Co. slushies (with a shot if you like), a Brooklyn Oyster Party raw bar, and more. Hang out in the breezy shade tent, or play beach games in the sand—ping-pong, bocce, and bean-bag cornhole—all at the biggest and most beautiful beach in the region. SmorgasBar: Brooklyn by the Beach is open Friday-Sunday until June 15, then daily from June 16 through Labor Day. Tentative hours are 11:00am to 8:00pm.